Alaska!

We have made it to the land of mushing dreams.  We now have 5 acres of wooded property on the Big Lake, Knik and Iditarod (historic, not current racing) trail access.  Snow is just beginning to creep down the mountains and a sense of excitement is in the air for me and the dogs.  They sense it, the darkening days and the descent into winter, and the cooler weather has them antsy and unwilling to come indoors.  The mountains loom impressively, showing off their new dusting of white.  To the west and north, the Alaska Range, north and east the Talkeetna mountains, to the east and south Chugach mountains and to the south, Kenai mountains.  You can't imagine the panorama.  Much like the Grand Canyon, Alaska must be experienced to do it justice.  The majesty and beauty of this land is beyond compare. 

Fall Training

Fall training is getting in to full swing.  Finally seeing temps regularly below 50 degrees.  I've heard a lot about other people's rules of heat, and when to not exercise dogs.  Our rules are simple.  No running dogs over 50 degrees, and only as far as the dogs look like they are dealing well with the humidity/heat index.  The health and welfare of my dogs is paramount to me.  They are my friends and companions, and as much as they would do for me, I would certainly do that and more for them!  So what I look for is tongue lolling and flattening, head shaking, head drooping, slowing and slack tugs.  Usually by this time I've either slowed way down or take a break.  I do not want to get to the point my dogs are foaming or stumbling.  If we have to stop and rest, it is time to turn around, or if we are on our way back, we stop and rest for a bit, then go slow.  It is far more important to me that my dogs enjoy the run, and want to do it more than it is to go fast.

Being a recreational musher affords us this luxury, and even if we ever did go pro, I don't think I would change my attitude.  It would just mean we get to have fun together more often and in larger teams.

As for the teams, they are fairly well settled for the upcoming Ohio race near the end of November.  4 dog rig will be Princess and Bucky in lead and Yukon and Cowboy in wheel.  2 dog scooter will be Ghost and Heimy.  When we get to do some sledding, I'll probably sub in Heimy for Yukon, or use all six.  Looking forward to this season and hoping we are able to make more races this year!  Here are a couple of runs this year:
Ghost and Ace
Heimy
Princess

Summer happenings and Fall training.

Again, a lot has transpired since the last update.  Went to a few more shows with Ghost, but was pretty discouraged when the results were baffling again.  So, Ghost and I have been training for obedience and possibly rally.  He's a good boy, and loves working with me, but undoing his conformation training is proving to be difficult.  He gets the obedience part down very well, but can't get the idea that I don't want him to stack at rest any more, but to sit.  Everything else is going very well.  He's a smart boy and I'm sure it will click for him one day soon.

Heimy has become an integrated member of the pack, and has been getting along fine with all the other dogs.  He still has a little bit of resource guarding issues that we are working on, but they haven't caused any fights.  Even Moony seems to like him, and plays with him a lot.  We still don't let them roam freely together when we are not home, but it has been very encouraging that she has not even once seriously threatened him.  It's great to have peace in the house again.

I built another hen house (getting better at it each time), and this one will be much better suited for the upcoming winter.

I have panels for the sides and back that will be screwed in to place when it starts to get cold.  The back flap opens for easy removal of eggs and the front panel opens for ease of cleaning the coop.  You can also see our rooster.  This spring we plan on incubating some of the eggs to keep our flock sustainable.  We had issues this year with a bobcat that killed off 8 of our hens and two young turkeys, so we had to move the chicken yard back out front to deal with the predator.  Next spring we will try to move the chicken yard back to the side, and implement an electric wire around it at two levels to try to stop predators.  Moving the yard is a lot of work, but it is more healthy for the chickens to forage.

I ordered a new scooter from CTC Dog Sports, and a shorty harness from them.  Finally got to use them and really like them.  Here is Heimy's first run of the season.  It was pretty high humidity, so I wasn't pushing him.  Since it was only his 3rd time in harness I was also trying to be very encouraging.  He still has a lot of puppy in him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96t0G6A36kw

This was Princess' first run of the season and since she tends to run hot and because of the high humidity, we were taking it pretty easy as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0fKC1SuBTM

This season we hope to make more races (yeah every year we want to make more events, but hopefully this racing season we will have the opportunity to do more).

Catchup

Spent a lot of time chasing my tail, much like Heimy does.  Almost every race I entered last season was cancelled, sigh, and then the financials hit with the impetus of a Mack truck.  This has truly convinced me I need to move to sledding country, so that even when I have big bills to pay I can still make some events. 

I was at last able to make Bristol!  It was amazing!  I loved it, though the drive there and back was a bit exhausting.

Electricity bills this year were enormous, more than double what they had been in the past.  I was still able to make it up to Michigan for at least one event, and had a total blast running the trails.  Thanks again to the MIDD crew!

At least staying home allowed me to work more on expanding our little farm, and I managed to get several fence panels at a reasonable price and a lot of hard work.  So now I'm working on expanding the amount of room our chickens have to roam around in.  The fence helps keep out foxes and coyotes as well as free-roaming dogs.  Our neighbors across the road's dogs are excellent and help also keep marauding canines at bay, so I sneak them chewies and biscuits once in a while.  Since Lucy and I came to an understanding that the chickens were mine, she has been great for keeping guard, and even helped save a chicken from another loose dog.  She cuddled it close to keep it warm, but it was too late for the hapless bird.  The hen had already been mauled fatally, but I will not forget Lucy's heroism.

Along the road to homesteading, we traded two of our laying hens for five what were supposed to be silkie hens.  Turns out they were immature birds, though thankfully old enough to make it through the bitter cold winter we had (which generally was colder than Anchorage Alaska, if you can imagine that) with the heated coops we provided them (one reason my electric bill was so high).  As they matured this spring, one of them grew much larger than the other four and began crowing.  Ok, four hens and a rooster.  Thankfully silkies are not very loud.  The four hens have started laying, adding to our laying birds, and perhaps in the future will add to the flock.  We also picked up 12 more chicks this year, all lively and healthy!  Looks like we might not have any loss of these cute little ones, and I'm very happy with them.  This new bunch are also very personable and try to climb on me as often as I have a hand or arm in their enclosure. 

I've built what I hope will be a good exercise area for them, and have only a few touches to add before it is ready for them to roam in the big yard with the other chickens without being picked on.  I plan on adding both sets of older birds to the larger yard, so hopefully they can all live in the same space.  Let's hope there won't be any vicious fights, but I'll keep a close eye on the introductions just in case.  What I plan on doing is creating a roosting area that can span between the two coops, and this area will be an enclosed and insulated coop for next winter. It will attach to both of the current hen houses, and I also plan on putting two openings to different yards so that I can seed one while they tear up the other.

Back to the dogs, Samantha and I went to Mt Orab Library in Ohio to do a meet and greet with some kids that have been studying the Iditarod segment in their schooling.  It was a fabulous time!  Thanks again for the invite!

Ghost and I will be headed off to the shows this spring.  Hopefully we can finally finish his championship.

Heimdahl (Heimy)

Heimdahl is another addition to the pack.  We took him in after he had been rehomed by his breeder twice unsuccessfully.  He's a very sweet but mischievous boy, and too smart for his own good. He'll fit in here just fine, I think.  I was hesitant to take him in due to the issues we've had between Moony and Velvet, but he's made a good companion for Velvet, and they wear each other out.  Heimy is good natured, but does exhibit jealousy. We are currently breaking him of the displays (little fits), but it is taking patience and love to show him he will get equal attention, food, or space with the other dogs without him nipping at them and yowling.

To do this, we don't give  him attention or food until he is sitting still and behaving.  He then gets treats and attention.  He is improving greatly, and only does it during feeding time now. (which we are working on)  Other than that, he gets along with everyone and they all like to play with him now and again.  He and Velvet have become inseparable, and he idolizes and sleeps by Ghost when he can.

We've only  had one good day of mushing this year, and I wanted to see how Velvet could do.  Her injuries may sadly prevent her from going on the racing team, which breaks my heart as much as hers.  I had to sadly cut short the run and take it very easy on the way back to the house.  I will work with her therapeutically solo to see if she will improve, so we will see, but it is unlikely she will be on the team this year.  I'm very sad about this, as she is an incredible little dog and I had high hopes she would make as great a leader as her mother, Freya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jquZDyXNqM0

So far we are planning on going to Bristol to pick up a new Outlaw rig (new to us), and the Farm Park Challenge part 2.  There is a good chance we will also make the Fair Hill Challenge, Mackinaw Mush if they have it, and an as yet undetermined race in February and one in March.

Adventures in Dog Showing

BTW, Saturday was an adventure, woke up early to feed dogs, shower, and get ready to meet Catherine Gamble for the drive up to Troy OH dog show.  Sleepily stumbled into the bathroom warding off happy puppy faces, only they weren't trying to lick me like normal.  It finally dawned on me that they were concerned and trying to push me off the toilet!  Or trying to push me out of the way so they could get next to the toilet, I realized.  Looking down and to my right I came eye to eye with a large dark brown snake with a mottled diamond pattern barely visible on its back.

My tired brain said "Cotton mouth!" and woke me the F up!  Yep, no caffeine necessary!

(This is obviously not my bathroom, but this is very close to what I was looking at in the semi-darkness)

Thankfully the snake seemed just as surprised and unbelieving as I was!  It had looped itself covetously around a toilet paper roll and was looking up at me as if to say it had no idea this was my bathroom and not a cozy inviting snake den.  A closer examination of the snake showed me round pupils and I relaxed.  Just a rat snake.  A four foot long rat snake, but still...The only movement was a flicking of a black tongue and I was very quick to finish my business and shoo the dogs out, shut the door and go wake my husband to help me round up the snake.  I think he's been watching too much Turtleman...

Grabbing a reach stick with a suckered grabber at the end, he follows me back to the bathroom.  I get an old pillow case, and he attempts to pick up the snake with a device never meant to pick up more than 16 ounces...  The snake is starting to wake up now, even though it is very cold and lethargic.  It makes a break for the door.  I grab another stick and help fend it away from freedom.  Jim finally gets a claw up under the snake as it is slithering out and lifts it enough for me to bag it.

"Tornader it!" He says, and I couldn't help but bust out laughing.

After I finished up getting ready and loading up, I took the snake down by the bridge and let it go.  Hopefully it will consume many mice and tell its grand-hatchlings about its close encounter and alien abduction.

Lots of Snow!

Amazingly enough, we have had a lot of snow in Kentucky this year!  Enough to actually do some sledding!
Velvet's 2nd time in lead

Have to say it was amusing to see how Velvet handled lead position.  I think she will be as good or maybe even better than her mother, Freya.

Ghost is now entered in the TN specialty and the cluster next month, so hopefully he will get the points he needs for his Championship.  I will be doing a lot of work with him in the upcoming weeks to get him ready.

Back at the Nationals:  Chilly Takes a Walk
So I was feeding Ghost on the porch again, and we were gearing up to go see Cathy in the main hall.  We were going to take Chilly with us so she could 'help her momma shop'.  (Those of you who know Cathy and Chilly, this is a common occurrence, and the highlight of Chilly's day.  I told Alayna to hold up while I finished taking care of Ghost and get him back in his crate, so went outside to pick up what he hadn't eaten, and brought him back in the room.  After getting him settled in, I turned around to get Chilly, and there was no sign of her.  The door was wide open and panic smote through me.  Chilly is Cathy's baby girl and I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her!

In a panic, I had Alayna go one way around the hotel and I went the other frantically calling out to Chilly!

Meanwhile, Chilly decided to go shopping.  She strolled down the hallways she knew led to where Cathy was as if she belonged there.  One thing held her up though, the smell of Bacon!  She wandered in to the restaurant, trying to convince patrons that she was a poor starving stray, and she would be ever so grateful for a bite of bacon!

Two lunatics ran frantically around the hotel screaming "CHIIILLLYYYY!  Come here Chilly!" with fear rising in their guts (the hotel is next to a very busy highway on one side and bordered the freeway on the other!  In dismay I rounded the last corner expecting to run in to Alayna, but she was markedly silent and not there.  The only thing running through my mind was "oh god, now I lost the girl and the dog!  So I asked around in the lobby to see if anyone had seen a dog or a smallish girl!  Getting looks like I was the Boston strangler was very uncomfortable.  No one had seen either.  In a panic I ran down the other side of the hotel yelling "CHHIIILLLYYY!  ALAAAAYNA!"  I ran around the outside of the building just in case, but no one out there walking their dogs had seen either of them.  Finally in dismay, I checked back in the room and there was Alayna with Chilly!

She told me the Chilly had wandered in the restaurant, and was fed and caught by someone there.  As soon as Alayna ran by yelling for her, they realized Chilly must be the object of her search and handed her over.  Much relieved, we brought a smug yet satisfied Chilly to her mom to go shopping.

Velvet and Moony

Both girls are back to getting along, though under careful supervision and only when Ace and Zena are separated from them.  We will never allow all four of them together again, as it would be irresponsible to put Velvet at risk.  Velvet also gets to play with Ace and Zena when Moony is separated, so all dogs get to socialize again.  Velvet is still a bit fearful of Moony and Ace, but who can blame her?  She does ok though, when I'm there near her.  She has gone back to playing with Zena reservedly, which is good.  Princess is still a good pal with her, and all the boys and Freya are happy to play and socialize with her.  Samantha is an oddball, sometimes she plays, but most of the time she just watches, but she never had an issue with Velvet.

The house we have separated in to two parts, and we use that to keep the girls separated as well as crates when they are sleepy.  Moony will lie down by Velvet's crate sometimes when she is not sleeping by Jim, which is a calming sign to Velvet.  When Moony is crated though, Velvet does not lie down by her, so there is still some room to build back their relationship.  But they do interact peacefully again. 

So, what happened at the Nationals you ask?  Well, the first story involves me feeding Ghost out on the veranda when it was about 30 degrees out.  Ghost became finicky the whole time we were there, mostly because he had fallen madly in love with Chilly (Cathy's girl, and apparently the heart-throb of every male Siberian that has ever laid eyes on her), so it was taking some time to get him to eat something.  Being curious, Alayna, Cathy's granddaughter, came to visit me on the veranda.  As a conscientious child, she shut the door behind us.  Well unfortunately for us, there was a slide clasp that was knocked into place when she did so.

Cathy was on her way back to the room without a key, unaware that we were locked out on the veranda.  She was knocking on the door, but we couldn't get in to open it, and I really didn't feel like jumping down 10 feet.  Fortunately, I did have my door key on me, though it was of little good on the veranda.  So we had to beg the help of a passer-by to unlock our door for us to get back in.  A kind lady brought the key in and gave it to Cathy and hence we were delivered from our internment... er... externment? 

In the next story, learn of the adventures of Chilly, Shikku, Willow and Snickers.  Elvis was entertained all week.

Street Sledding!

Well, we started out off-road, honest!  Princess went half-way down the hill, then took an abrupt left, despite my screams of GEE!  GEE! GEEEEEEEE!! OOF!  Several bruises later, I got back on the sled, but you can't turn a sled on pavement!  By this time we had already gone a mile down the road where there were no trails to jump off on to.  How do you get them back to the trail?  Well, you jump back on the runners, for as long as you can stay upright, then kind of drag until the dogs finally stopp pulling you down the road.  Did I mention you can't turn a sled on pavement?

Today I am sore and my skin has several new spots of purplish red.  Not my prefered mottling, but I suppose it could have been worse.  No broken bones, and no hurt doggies, and for that I'm grateful.

This morning marks the first day of full non-comercial food for my pups.  I feed them a home-mixture of chicken leg quarters, beef liver, oats (for bowel movement/fiber), raw eggs, raw honey, organic vinegar, organic no-fat plain yogurt, no-fat cottage cheese (for flavor and calcium) and a couple blueberries (since they can't let me eat breakfast with blueberries without giving them one or two each).  This is an incredible ballet of making the food in 12 bowls, alternating crating and feeding, and rotating and separating.  A dance I'll perform daily for my beloved pack, may I be worthy of their love. 

Update on Velvet

She went to the vet for a checkup/followup yesterday (December 18th) and the vet was very surprised at how well and how much she has recovered.  She's definitely a strong little girl and it looks as if there won't be any permanent injury.  She won't need any drains and they gave us a few more pain pills, but I don't think she will need many more.  She is already chomping at the bit to get out and play, but we will be limiting her activity for another week.

I have been slowly integrating her back in to the pack, but there will never be a time when she is free-roaming with the three girls, only one at a time and only under direct supervision by me personally.  In the plans are to create another dog yard that she can roam freely in without the three girls she has issues with.

I believe I have a good picture of what may have happened now.  Zena and Velvet always play together, and sometimes it gets a bit rough.  Velvet had a bruised and cracked rib where there were no bite marks, so I believe she was tackled on the hill and may have fallen on the rib and cracked it.  Knowing she was hurt, she snapped at Zena to get her to stop playing, and that set off Moony and Ace.  It is the best and most reasonable explanation, but a reminder that things happen that we can't always control and won't always be there for.  The best we can do is minimize the risk.

Velvet

At a time like this I find myself wondering what I'm doing and second guessing my choices in life.  All has gone pretty well for the last 6 or so months, and Velvet has been playing well and fitting in with the pack... until Wednesday (December 11).  At the end of my workday I got a frantic call that Velvet had been in a fight with three of the girls (Ace, Moony and Zena) and had been hiding under the table as soon as the other dogs were pulled off her.  It is still a mystery what triggered the attack since they had been getting along so well. 

I raced home as quickly as I could, and found a very torn up girl in great pain.  We rushed her to the emergency clinic and thank goodness got her there in time to save her life.  She stayed there Wednesday night and we took her to our regular vet on Thursday.  She stayed there last night and is still under observation today.  Poor little girl, all she wants is to be loved and to play.  It will be a long hard road for her recovery, but I'm glad she is expected to pull through without permanent disability physically.  She seemed in good spirits when I visited her last night and laid down beside her on the floor of the clinic for a half an hour.  (Thanks again for allowing and indulging me in this, as I felt it very important for her mental well being to know that she was not abandoned and that she is still loved very much.)

I'm hopeful for her future, but this makes me realize that even though we've trained the dogs to get along and generally they do, we can never let down our guard again.  The pack will need to be divided between those we know will never conflict with Velvet, and those that we know have underlying issues with her.  I'm reminded of some advice from a musher I respect very much.  Racing dog pack dynamics change drastically when there are more than 10 dogs. 

Dog Show

Ghost strut his stuff over the course of 5 days.  Two points more towards his championship.  Once I'm able to gather up all the correct info and names I'll list up the great pups I got to see this weekend along with the awesome people and fun times.

Whoever Said Dogs don't Lie?

That person does not know Samantha...

Sure, she looks innocent here, but you don't know her like I do.

Imagine you're one of the other dogs happily chewing away on a rawhide square.  Pack-mom has gifted you with this lovely treat and smiled as you pranced around with it in your mouth to find the perfect place to gnaw on this slightly flavored piece of cowhide.  All the other dogs have their chewy and life is good as you savor the bits as they become slimy and slide down your throat like liver.  Suddenly the Alpha queen Samantha shows up, and she's so full of play!  It is such an honor to be played with by the Alpha queen!  You are so happy she's chosen you to play with, she almost never plays!  You get up to echo her play bow and Blam!  She's stolen your treat turned her tail towards you, and laid down in your space eating your chewy!

Yup, and that's not her only lying thieving trick.  When I work late, I usually have my husband give the dogs their evening frozen fish snack and all the dogs are happy until I get home.  They all greet me with excited wags and woos and lots of kisses except Samantha, she immediately starts yelling at me with her 'Super Bark'.  Believe me when I say it is a Super Bark and has been known to shake the foundations of the earth!  She tells me,  "I have been waiting forever for my fish!  How dare you be late with my evening snack!  Dad starves me and abuses me by not giving me my fish!  Where is my fish!?"  This is incessant until it is quite plain she is not getting another fish, then she 'harrumphs' and lays on the couch.

Oh and then there is the ice cream.  Occasionally the dogs get to share some ice cream with us.  Samantha will wait patiently for her portion, then sneak in behind the dogs around James and tell him she hasn't had any yet.  She will then immediately sneak back to me and swear up and down she didn't get any from James and it's her turn for another spoonful.

Oh yes, dogs lie, cheat and steal, and Samantha is proof of that.

Sustainable Living

This is one of the things that has kept us busy.  We have been busy trying to make our farm self sufficient.  These little chickies are egg-laying Rhode-Island Reds, 12 of them which we have been raising since they were fluffy yellow chicks with only a few wing feathers.  As you can see, they are nearing adulthood and will soon be of egg-laying age.

This is the beginning of our rabbitry.  My husband has named this one Snowflake.  Plans are to get two more males and at least one more female all from different bloodlines.

We've also been working on the raised bed garden.

Also been busy planting berry bushes and trees

As you can see, the plants are doing well and it looks like we will have a great harvest this year.

We have had some setbacks.  All the little fruits in the following pic were eaten by birds. :(

We've deployed resin owls, and if that doesn't work, we will probably put up bird nets.  Hopefully our pears will survive.

We've also been growing veggies in containers.

These and taking our boy Ghost to shows has kept us pretty busy.

It's been a while

Sorry for the lapse, but so much has been happening so quickly.  We have gone from being just a kennel, to a hobby farm, leading eventually to a full fledged farm we hope.  Ghost has been strutting his stuff in the arena, and man is he a handsome boy!

He hasn't won as much as I'd hoped, probably because he is right at the top of the standard, and a lot of judges appear not to want to put him up, let alone wicket him (he passed the wicket in Indiana).  Ah well, at least with his size he should have no trouble keeping up with the other dogs in harness. 

We now have 12 pullets that are fast becoming chickens, and this weekend I'll be constructing a hen house for them shadow-box style.  I'll put up pics once completed.

We also have one New Zealand White rabbit with plans on getting 3 more to start, but I need to finish the rabbit barn so that we have a cozy place to keep them where it will be easy to clean.

Add to these, I've planted quite a few berry bushes and trees in my orchard, and have planted several rose hedges out front of the dog yard on the side of the house mainly to discourage approaching our dog yard from the road.  Too many crazy people driving around like maniacs all night, and stopping near our house have made me nervous for their safety.  Along the road, I've planted alternating Blue Spruce and Rose of Sharon trees to make a sort of living fence/privacy screen once they've grown.  Siberian Elms will help keep intruders out of my sideyard that have apparently decided it is okay to have campfires on my land.  Surveillance cameras, floodlights and shotguns have been deployed to keep my property and dogs safe.

The raised bed garden is going splendidly, and peas, lettuce of all varieties, sunflowers, beans and other cool weather plants are growing phenomenally.  Very soon it will be time to harvest them and plant the summer crop.  We intend to can, dry and preserve as much as possible and have been stocking up on canning supplies.

Ace was just at the vet to be neutered.  Her continued 'silent' heats and odd heat behaviors have been worrying me greatly, so I decided it was better safe than sorry.  We really don't have the facilities for more dogs, and don't want any puppies, let alone worries about Pyometra.  When we are ready to replace some of our aging team members, we will think about getting another intact female.  Poor Ace, she was so distraught, but brightened up some when Jim came to get her. 

Truck Troubles and Always Something

Again it looks like our racing season will be cut short this year. This time, my trusty and dependable truck has decided to not be so trusty or dependable, so it is time to find a replacement. Adding to our worries, Velvet appeared to have a bout of some nasty sickness over the weekend (canine flu?) where she had diarrhea and vomiting, but a couple of doses of Parvaid and Vibactra seemed to straighten her out over-night. She is now back to her fun loving energetic self.

I love this remedy, and with my herbal knowledge will attempt to duplicate the results so I don't have to pay over a hundred dollars for about $.50 worth of tinctures. I could very likely improve it as well, but it will have to be very cautiously done.

I did get Freya and Yukon out on the sled on the little bit of snow we had.  It was quite fun, though the snow was a bit wet and sticky to go very far.  Unfortunately we had a warm weather swath come through, and now all the snow is gone again.  This bodes ill for the growing season again.  I fear worse droughts are on the horizon, so am trying to gear up our sustainable agriculture this year as much as possible.  We plan on getting some breeding rabbits to help feed the dogs and ourselves as well as an aquaponics system to grow vegetables, tilapia, and possibly red-claw or other crawfish (by necessity this means investing in a greenhouse with a woodstove heater/possibly gassifier as well).  So this coming year will be a lot of investment on our sustainability for our farm.

I also hope that our orchard will finally start producing.  This should be the first year of our fruit crop.  With the trees growing on the lowland next to the creek, I'm hoping that even in drought their roots will find the water table and survive.  If they start to look a little dry, I'll be employing a pump and hose to get water to them from the creek.  At least behind our house, there is a tiny spring that feeds into the creek, so though it has gone very low at times, there has always been water there.

Next month, since we are probably not going to be able to make races, I will be taking Ghost to the show ring.  He has been doing fairly well in his classes, and I'm starting to get back in to the groove.  Hopefully together, we will come together as a good team and he will get the points he needs for his championship.  He is such a gorgeous guy!

Ohio race and training

In addition to the Rig Rondy, we also attended the Farmpark Challenge again this year.  I love the venue for this race.  The people are always friendly and helpful.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of me and the team this year, but got some good starting chute pics of other racers and of Princess:

We again came in 7th in the class (is this a theme this year?), but had the fastest purebred team time in the 4 dog class.  Yay Team Wyrd!

Since then we've been doing some training runs, as we spent way too much on Christmas.  Hoping to get to some snow races later this year, but without time to train on snow (snow?  what snow?), I'm not very optimistic regarding our ability to race on a sled.  I'm only hoping to stay on it and not get myself or the dogs injured.

The one great thing that has come out of this is that I've finally had the chance to get Cowboy out with the team, and the boy is a natural!  He's a little nervous when we get him out on the gangline, but once we take off, he is hauling hard on the tug the whole way with the biggest grin you've ever seen on a sibe.

Rig Rondezvous (Bill Leonard Memorial Race)

The trip up to the Illinois race was very long and very scary.  First mishap, Velvet chewed through her leash, and while I was trying to keep her from jumping out when we stopped to walk the others, Bucky jumped over the top of me!  With my heart in my throat, I called, and thank god he's such a good boy he came instantly to my side!  Whew!  I'm glad I do recall training!

I would be devastated if anything happened to my TV buddy!

Each time I would have to hold back the dogs while I switched a lead from a walked dog to Velvet, then remove that leash again before heading back out so she couldn't chew through that one too.  She had already put teeth marks in a second leash.

Next stop, it was Princess who managed to get by me.  I've taken these dogs on several trips before and have not had as much trouble as this one!  Princess is pretty good at coming to me, but I have to be fast.  She came back to me and spun around just as fast and I was able to grab her leash before she took off again.

When we reached the hotel, Velvet and Princess got loose!  With two of them running I was sure we would lose them, but I quickly dropped to the ground and urgently called to them both.  Thank goodness again, they both came to my call!  Jim grabbed Velvet while I grabbed Princess even though Jim was still holding on to Bucky.  The two dogs tripped him up and fortunately he kept hold of Velvet and was laying on Bucky's leash.  I ran over with Princess and helped him up as I grabbed Bucky's leash and Velvet's collar.  By this time I was fearful, wondering what else would go wrong.  My stomach was doing flipflops and I had a sickly feeling that wasn't all.  My premonition turned out true as when I took the two girls out (Princess and Velvet) later that night on the long leads, the one holding Princess simply snapped in two at the clasp!  It was a nearly new lead too!  Again, I thank my stars that Princess is so well trained.  She didn't come directly back to me, so I told her to get in the truck, and immediately the came to wait by the door where I was able to catch her.

With some trepidation we spent the night without any further mishaps, got our early wake-up call even though I was already awake, having slept very little because Velvet insisted on sleeping on my head.  We had breakfast and headed out to the site.

Thankfully, there were no further mishaps for our lot, and we were able to attend the musher's meeting, prepare for the race and run the race.  Freya and Princess did phenomenal at lead, and only were uncertain on one turn and heading for the finish chute (Freya hates going in to the crowd and Princess wants to be in the center of the crowd instead of in the chute).  Yukon and Bucky were amped up!  All four dogs loped the entire 2.5 mile course with gusto!  We passed two other teams with only Bucky wanting to do a social call, but Yukon kept him from nosing too close to the other team.  The course was wonderful, packed grassy farm trail that was perfect on the dogs' feet!  The turns were exciting, and at one point I was up on two wheels, but we made each turn at high speed and it was great fun!  We made great time and came in 7th out of 20 entrants.

I feel really good about this as I know at least 3-4 of the front runners were well respected racers, and all of them had time and training trails to put miles on their dogs that I could only dream of.  I am extremely happy with the performance of my dogs!  So kudos to my team of awesome and wonderful PB Sibes!  I couldn't ask for better dogs!  Congratulations to all that ran the race, so glad I got to attend.  Thanks again to the organizers and volunteers!  You all made it possible for me to see the best of my dogs in action.  The food was awesome too!  The chili was amazing and just what we needed to warm up on the cold day!  Don't know if I will be able to make it so far next year, but definitely enjoyed this premiere race/fun run!

The drive back was thankfully uneventful if long and tiring.  9 hours including stops for people and dogs.  But it was well worth it.

Cooling Off

So far we've had two training runs, one for 1 mile, and the second for 2 miles.  Velvet has taken Princess' place while she is recovering from being spayed.  I now have a full 4 team that I won't have to worry about heats or pregnancy keeping me from any races.  Velvet stepped up to the challenge of running with the race team with gusto and enthusiasm, and like her mother and father is proving to be a great asset.  If only she was as big and strong as Bandit.  Strength and endurance were a little on the low side last year, so I plan on building more of both this year.  With Velvet's smaller size though, strength is still going to be an issue.  To work on this, I've created a grass course I plan on running when it is cool enough.  With the greater resistance of the grass track, I hope to encourage a better strength and stamina than in previous years. 

I also have a place where I can run a longer course to build a bit more distance endurance this year, but it is a bit of a drive, so will probably only be able to run it on weekends or sneak in a run on wednesdays when I take Ghost to show classes (at the same place)  Due to changed finances, I have a limited racing budget this year, so will only be planning a limited amount of events.  Having fun with my dogs is still my #1 priority, so we will be planning to hit up events with a larger fun factor.

Been working on getting the RV roof redone, and though it is a lot of work, I think this time we will be in good shape once I'm finished.  We still have a long way to go considering what I had to work with.

Here you can see quite a bit of the corrosion that was underneath the rubberized coating.  I've had to take a steel brush to it to clean it away before putting down primer.  I've probably got about half done before I had to cover the RV back up because of the rains.  Hopefully it will be clear enough to continue working on it come Thursday.

Top Dog of the Kennel

Cowboy has found his place in our kennel, and surprisingly enough, he is top dog.  Even Moony and Samantha back down from him!!!  He is a real sweetheart though, and one thing that has endeared him to all the dogs, is that he loves to play with everybody.  He's not vengeful or angry if he doesn't get what he wants, but he will playfully mouth the object of his frustration, play-growl , and play-bow until he bugs them into giving him what he wants, or they both go off and playfully forget whatever it was.  It is the oddest mode of domination I've ever seen from a dog, and the most wonderfully pleasant way to make it to top dog.

In all my 35+ years of being a dog listener, this is the first time I've ever seen a dog use this method of gaining community/pack support.  It is a pleasant change from fighting, intimidation and bullying.  He is an unanimous, elected by the pack, leader.  Who would have thought dogs could be diplomats?  Kudos to you Cowboy for showing our dogs that you don't have to be mean to be Top Dog.